If you could have one reference book

So my wife got me a $20 gift card to borders to buy a brewing book as part of my Christmas present. So the only one they had in store was The Brewmasters Bible by Stephen Snyder, it looked like it had some decent info but If Im going to get a book I want something that I will continue to use a reference indefinitely after reading it initially.

So If you could have only one book for the rest of your brewing life what would it be?

iøm reading yeast by chris white and jamil zainascheff, i recommend it,once i've finished i'm going to read it again as there is way to much info to absorb (at least for me) in one reading!

I'd stick with The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian. I've read it a couple of times and it's got some great info in it. If you are looking for something on the mead-front, then The Compleat Meadmaker, hands down.

It really depends on at what level you are at, and kinda what part of your brewing process you are into. To me, Papazian and Palmer are great beginner books, but the info on here is often more up to date, and even better explained than those books, so once I got to where I am, it's rare that I reference those books except tom answer questions.

So to me they are really NOT reference books, but beginners books. You may go back into them, let's say, when you decide to start AG brewing, if you've only been doing extract, but you may end up here looking for clarification anyway. But once you've got AG down, you probably won't find yourself grabbing either of the bookks too often.

Since I lean towards recipe creation as the part of the process I like most, then a book that I would refer back to repeatedly would be something more along the lines of "Designing Great Beers" or even the one I do have that I dipp into a lot, "Radical Brewing."

Or even "Brewing CLassic Styles."

If you like to brew clones, then one or all of the "Clone Brews" books would be reference books.

If you brew exclusively certain styles, like Belgian's, or Lagers, there are great reference books on those out there (brew like a monk comes to mind)

And if you are more scientific then like someone mentioned the new yeast book, or one of the numerous brewing science books out there, that are a little more difficult to find, but are out there.

All of those to me are more books I would go back to for info, rather than the Palmer and Papazian....I can't remember the last time I really went back to either of them for infromation for myself. But I just recently grabbed Radical Brewing to re-read about some of the odd fermentables I was planning to use in my Sri Lanking stout, then I started reading about some of the brewing with bread stuff because of the Brewmaster's tv show.

The Brewmasters Bible is a very informative book although not quite as easy to read as The Complete Joy. But I am always going to the tables and conversions in the brewmasters bible.

Thanks for the input guys, Revvy that was very helpful. Im not a new AG brewer and me and my dad are actually in the planning stages of starting a nano brewery. Thats exactly what info Im looking what books are not aimed at beginners. I want something that has good in depth info to look back to. Something that has info on things like water profiles, ect.....things you look back too. I have been doing much more recipe creation and working on learing with smashes and experiments than cloning recently. Which book do you prefer Revvy? Im not so much into getting crazy fermentation wise but when it comes to different styles such as out there IPAs, cascadian darks ect. IM all over experimenting

+1 to designing great beers.

If you were a beginner then I'd go with "How To Brew"

I think any level of brewer including many pro brewers could get quite a bit from "Brewing Classic Styles".

Some others that I also recommend:
Radical Brewing
Designing Great Beers
Brew Like A Monk
New Lager Brewing
Brewing with Wheat
etc...

I agree with mighty nintendo and go for Designing great beers, BUT, this book was mentioned in another thread about starting a nano brewer.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381896/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

But since it's 50 bucks, the gift card would be good towards it.

This is an easy one to answer. Hit up your local library system and borrow as many brewing books as you can. Read them, skim them, look at the pictures and then decide if you want to own any of them. I saved myself a lot of money because in the end I really only look at them every so often. I bought "How to Brew" which rates a "B" with me at this point, started out as an "A". Papazian's book is the first I bought because I just wanted something to start with. I've never rated it higher than a "C" as I think it is dated and campy.

If I was going to buy another book, Brewing Classic Styles or Radical Brewing maybe although the Yeast books sounds like it needs a preview.

Revvy said:

It really depends on at what level you are at, and kinda what part of your brewing process you are into. To me, Papazian and Palmer are great beginner books, but the info on here is often more up to date, and even better explained than those books, so once I got to where I am, it's rare that I reference those books except tom answer questions.

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+1 to this. For the first year or so of my brewing, I dipped into Palmer a lot, but I don't think I have picked it up more than once or twice since. Papazian I read once and that was it. Once I started finding so much out of date info, I stopped referencing either.

I REALLY like the Yeast book, but my SWMBO is also works in yeast genetics and I am very interested in the yeast mechanics, so to speak, so this might not be everyone's cup of tea. This is also probably the most "new" book/technology for homebrewers in quite a while. Really brings the biology to a level that any homebrewer can appreciate, IMO.

Right now I am referencing Designing Great Beers a lot, but it is more for historical and rough approximation of styles than as a sole guide to recipe formulation.

I am well into AG, formulating my own recipes, and yeast ranching at home, so that is probably why I appreciate those last few books more than some of the more traditional/basic ones...

maida7 said:

New Lager Brewing
Brewing with Wheat

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2 books that I got for Xmas that will be joining me on my upcoming vacation.

I have Papazians book but it is rather dated. Used it alot when I first started. Don;t reallt crack it anymore.

I use "Brewing Classic Styles" now for great recipes.

Another vote for "Brewing Classic Styles". For the more advanced brewer, it gives an excellent jumping-off point for brewing just about any BJCP recognized style. It's also a great basis for "starter" recipes you can tweak to your own taste.

Randar said:

2 books that I got for Xmas that will be joining me on my upcoming vacation.

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Beware! The Noonan books is a major snoozer. Just something about his writing style puts me to sleep. It's also very technical and can be hard to follow. But it has some excellent info and goes way beyond more basic books like "How to Brew"

I just placed an order yesterday!

1 "Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles"
Ray Daniels; Paperback; $15.15

1 "Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation (Brewing Elements Series)"
Chris White; Paperback; $13.57

Total for this Order: $28.72
FREE super saver shipping

Bam!

Clann said:

The Brewmasters Bible is a very informative book although not quite as easy to read as The Complete Joy. But I am always going to the tables and conversions in the brewmasters bible.

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A second vote for Brewmasters Bible...The Complete Joy is a bit (gasp) dated.

Cheers.

Personally I like Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. It's the one I go back to most. There's plenty of science and numbers in there, but that's the only book I've read that treats brewing as an art and not a math problem. He really strives to give you a sense of the political and social history of different countries' brewing, weaving in plenty of interesting anecdotal material to boot. To me, the book is aimed at giving the novice brewer the information and confidence to experiment, come up with their own recipes, tinker with styles, and really embrace the creative aspect of brewing.

Books like Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles, How to Brew, etc. are all very good, and How to Brew and New Brewing Lager Beer definitely have more technical and scientific information. Their downfall is that they treat it as a technical and scientific hobby. None of them have any love or giddy enthusiasm to impart. The only other brewing book I feel comes close to that tone is Brew like a Monk.

indigi said:

Personally I like Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. It's the one I go back to most. There's plenty of science and numbers in there, but that's the only book I've read that treats brewing as an art and not a math problem. He really strives to give you a sense of the political and social history of different countries' brewing, weaving in plenty of interesting anecdotal material to boot. To me, the book is aimed at giving the novice brewer the information and confidence to experiment, come up with their own recipes, tinker with styles, and really embrace the creative aspect of brewing.

Books like Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles, How to Brew, etc. are all very good, and How to Brew and New Brewing Lager Beer definitely have more technical and scientific information. Their downfall is that they treat it as a technical and scientific hobby. None of them have any love or giddy enthusiasm to impart. The only other brewing book I feel comes close to that tone is Brew like a Monk.

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I find brewers generally fall into one of two basic ways of thinking. There are artist brewers and engineer brewers. You sound like the artists type. Personally, I'm more of an engineer.

maida7 said:

I find brewers generally fall into one of two basic ways of thinking. There are artist brewers and engineer brewers. You sound like the artists type. Personally, I'm more of an engineer.

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Heheh, that reminded me of a thread I started 2 years ago..

Which Brewer Are You?

maida7 said:

I find brewers generally fall into one of two basic ways of thinking. There are artist brewers and engineer brewers. You sound like the artists type. Personally, I'm more of an engineer.

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And both can make great beer I feel like you can learn more about your own process talking with someone who has a different perspective on brewing.